Page:A handbook of the Cornish language; Chiefly in its latest stages with some account of its history and literature.djvu/107

88 applies are mostly such as are more commonly used in the plural, and the en becomes, as Norris calls it, "an individualising particle." Thus:-

del, leaves, foliage ; delen, a leaf. gwrihon, sparks ; gwrihonen, a spark. gwedh, trees ; gwedhen, a tree. gwel, rods, twigs ; gwelen, a rod, a twig. Itihas, lightning ; Idhesen, a flash of lightning. scow, elder trees ; scowen, an elder tree. eithin, furze ; eithinen, a furze bush. loggas, mice ; loggosan or loggojan, a mouse. low, lice ; lewen, a louse. redan, fern ; redanen, a single fern. mor, berries ; moren, a berry. hern, pilchards ; hernen, a pilchard. murryan, ants ; murryanen, an ant. on, ash trees ; onnen, an ash. enwedh, ash trees ; enwedhen, an ash, from on, ash, gwedh, trees. glasten, oaks ; glastenen, an oak. gwern, alders ; gwernen, an alder. spern, thorns ; spernen, a thorn. bannol, broom (the plants collectively) ; bannolen, a broom (to sweep with).

And many others, chiefly names of plants and animals of a more or less gregarious nature. Some of these have other plurals, formed by adding one of the plural terminations to the collective plural. These would be used when the collective idea was not required. Thus:- del, leaves (collective) ; delkyoiv or delgyow, leaves (not collectively).

Some singulars in en form their modern plurals from a lost collective plural, i.e. by dropping the en and